What is dancing?
by strangerfanfics011
Summary: It's been a whole year since Eleven vanished, and the Snowball's rolling around again. For Mike, that means vivid nightmares, and awful sadness from memories. But for Nancy, it means a whole new plan, to find Mike a surprise for the Snowball...in 9 days...
1. Chapter 1

**Hi everyone! My name is Rosie and I love to write my own stories and share them with you. I am a huge Stranger Things fan, and a massive Mileven shipper so my stories will be Stranger Things related and will be full of cute Mileven stuff - and other Stranger Things ships as well, of course. What Is Dancing? is my first story and I hope you like it.**

 **First chapter, here we go! Got some bonding sibling stuff between Mike and Nancy...**

 **-R**

Mike turned over in his bed for the umpteenth time that night. He hadn't slept well at all. He'd had another nightmare. He'd been having nightmares a lot for a whole year now, ever since...

 _No,_ Mike told himself. _Don't go upsetting yourself, that won't help. You should be excited! Christmas holidays have started and you have a huge Dungeons and Dragons campaign with your best friends...!_ And to help himself get off to sleep like he always did, he started planning another campaign in his head. But tonight, even that didn't work. His mind kept wondering back to the dream he'd had, that had left him sadder than any other.

 _It had started like all the others, with Mike sprinting as fast as he could through Hawkins, his town. Only it wasn't Hawkins, it was different. An exact replica but dark, and freezing cold. Horrible little white flakes floated through the air like snow but somehow much more menacing. Mike tried to keep his mouth shut so that he didn't swallow any of the flakes, but it proved almost impossible while running so fast. He accidentally inhaled one and choked, spitting and retching the thing out. Whatever it was, it was like acid and burned his mouth. He heard a throaty, screeching roar from behind him and scrambled up to run off again. Tendrils of disgusting slime covered everything, making twigs on the ground quite slippery. There was no colour, just a horrible sort of greyish-greenish-black. He could only guess where he was, but he had a pretty good idea. This could only surely be the Upside Down._

 _And then he saw it. A broken down building, slime climbing the walls like ivy. He recognised it immediately - his house. Then the dream began to change. Instead of running right past, he went in, through the back door into the basement of the Wheeler household. He knew he needed to hide, and ran straight towards the fort he'd made for Eleven that he'd never taken down. (And even in a dream, he felt a pang of sadness at the sight.)But there was already someone in there. A small, slight figure, with a shaved head. A girl wearing a muddy blue-and-green shirt - that was far too baggy on her skinny frame - over a tattered pink frilly dress with a neat little once-white-now-grey collar. She had dirty white baseball socks striped with blue and yellow at the top, and over them, filthy white Converse Chucks. Eleven."EL!" cried Mike, and his voice echoed through the small room. She looked up and a tear slid down her cheek. "Mike?""El, I'm right here!" called Mike, running over and wrapping his arms around her."Mike, where are you?" sobbed El, and Mike drew away and gazed at her. She wasn't quite in focus with his vision, like she wasn't fully there. "Mike?""El!" cried Mike, and then there was a growl and the wall burst inwards, covering the two..._

And Mike had jerked awake, tears racing down his cheeks, and his breath coming in short gasps. She had been there... so close, but so far away. "El..." he whispered. His heart felt shattered into a million pieces.

Now, he lay still. Suddenly, he heard soft padding footsteps go past his bedroom door. His heart leapt in an old reflex, remembering Eleven's soft steps when she had stayed here, before he realised it was probably his mother or Nancy. He lay there for a few minutes more, until he got out of bed and looked at his clock. 4:56 am.

 _I can't just lie there._ Mike thought, and tiptoed out of his room and down the stairs. He went into the dining room and sat in his normal chair, remembering how Dustin and Lucas and come round for dinner not long after Will went missing and Eleven had secretly moved in. Mike's mother had been sitting with her back to the door, and Eleven had walked past behind her. Mike had choked on his milk, and Karen Wheeler had turned to see what was wrong. Dustin banged his fists twice on the table and Karen had jumped and whipped back round without seeing Eleven, thank God. Dustin had apologised: "Sorry, spasm."

Mike pushed the palms of his hands into his eyes so hard spots and colours danced across his vision. He needed someone to talk to. Someone like... "Mike?"

Mike jumped violently and looked up to see his big sister Nancy standing there, looking concerned, holding a glass of strawberry milk. Mike and Nancy had become much closer in the past year after the whole Will Byers and Eleven incident, a great relief for the Wheeler parents, who were beginning to get bored of Mike and Nancy sniping at each other and swapping kicks under the table. Mike now shook his head slightly and tried for a mischievous smile. "I won't tell if you won't?"

Nancy lowered her eyebrows slightly, confused. "Mike, is everything alright? You look... like hell."

"Thanks, and everything's fine." Mike replied.

Nancy peered at Mike's face. She had noticed over the past year that he hadn't been eating and laughing as much as normal but she had assumed he was just growing up. But now she looked at his thin face, the dark shadows surrounding his eyes, the sadness making his eyes as deep as the sea. She left the dining room and bought Mike another glass of strawberry milk, which he loved, and sat down next to him. "Mike, remember what we said last year before we got out the pool? I said: 'no more secrets, okay?' and you said: 'okay.' So come on, what's wrong?"

Mike really wanted to talk to someone about his sadness. It was weighing him down, but he didn't know if he could without crying. He shook his head.

Luckily, Nancy came to his rescue. "Is it because of Eleven? It is, isn't it. Yes, I knew you liked her."

Mike couldn't help it. He looked up at her and burst into quiet tears. He had become very good at silent crying. He'd done it so often but he didn't want his mother to know or worry. "Yes, I liked her, I asked her to the Snowball, I kissed her but now she's gone and...and my nightmares are getting worse, what with the Snowball in nine days and...and..."

"Oh, Mike," said Nancy and she put her arms around him. "Have you been carrying that around for a year? But you told Dustin, Lucas and Will right?"

Mike shook his head and sniffled.

"You didn't tell _anyone_? Oh, no wonder you're so depressed. Emotional pain is too heavy to carry alone, it will crush you in the end. Believe me, I know."

Mike extracted himself and gazed at her. "What do you mean?" he asked her suspiciously.

Nancy blushed and covered her tracks. "Never you mind. Come on, drink your milk, and then go back to bed. I'll tell you a story if you like, like when we were kids, remember?"

Mike drank his milk and smiled. "I'd like that, Nance."

They went back up to Mike's room, and Nancy tucked him in, like he was a four-year-old again. "What story do you want tonight?"

Mike looked up at her. "Can I have a Mike The Mighty story, like in Dungeons and Dragons?"

Nancy smiled, and began her story. Nancy barely ever told anyone this, but she had a vivid imagination and was an amazing storyteller. She'd wanted to be a writer ever since she'd told three-year-old Mike her first story. As she'd become a teenager, she had grown out of the habit and Steve and Tommy and Carol had convinced her that it was 'lame'. Her best friend Barb had known, but she was gone now. Mike had followed in her footsteps with the storytelling, which explained why he was an amazing writer for Dungeons and Dragons. And now within five minutes of Mike the Mighty slaying a crazy monster (with a Venus Fly Trap for a face), Mike was fast asleep.

And that wasn't all. While telling her story, a plan to make Mike happy had began to form in her mind. She knew what she had to do, and the finer details came into focus as she lay in bed two minutes later. But she was going to need help, and for help she needed a certain three boys, and for them she needed...

Mike's old Supercomm.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello, everyone!**

 **So I'm updating my story again today – yays! I got my first reviews on Chapter 1, and they totally made my day, thank you so much! I've tried to separate the speech for ya, hope this is better!**

 **Chapter 2, here we go!**

 **-R**

 _*crackle crackle*_

Lucas opened his eyes very grumpily. He had been woken up far earlier than he'd have liked on a Saturday morning by – he supposed – his parents trying the new TV.

 _*crackle crackle*_

Lucas rolled over and looked at his Star Wars alarm clock. 8:30am.

Great.

 _*crackle crackle* Lucas, are you there? Come in, please!_

Lucas sat up. That wasn't the TV, he realised, but his Supercomm! That wasn't Mike, he knew. He was pretty sure it wasn't Will or Dustin, either. Maybe it was Max, the red-haired new girl whom Lucas and the others had befriended (and Lucas was developing rather inconvenient feelings for her), but he doubted it.

Then who?

 _*crackle crackle* Lucas, please! It's Nancy, Nancy Wheeler. It's about Mike. Do you copy?_

A pause.

 _Over?_

 _Nancy?!_ Thought Lucas, remembering the last time he'd heard Nancy's voice over the Supercomm. It hadn't been great. He picked up his Supercomm nevertheless, pulled up the ariel, and pressed the button.

"Nancy? Yeah, it's Lucas, I copy. What's up, over?"

Nancy heard Lucas' reply and sighed with relief. "It's about Mike, over." She replied. She could almost hear Lucas' confusion in the silence that stretched between them. It went on for so long she almost thought he hadn't heard. "Lucas, over?"

 _*crackle* I'm still here. What's wrong with Mike, over?_

"He's really sad about Eleven – heart sick – and he's up all hours with nightmares, especially with the Snowball, over."

 _Woah, wait. Why the Snowball? And I knew he liked Eleven but I didn't know that was why he's been moping around lately! And don't tell him I said this, but his Dungeons and Dragons campaigns have been getting kinda boring…over._

Nancy didn't know whether to tell Lucas the whole truth yet, and decided, having known Lucas for many years, not to – as he tended to wind Mike up. "I don't think he'd want me to say, and knowing you, you'll wind him up about it. Over."

 _Excuse me?_ Lucas' reply was dripping with mock hurt. _I would never! No, I'm kidding, I see your point. So why are you telling me this? I'm crap at talking to people about emotional problems, if that's what you're thinking, over._

"No," replied Nancy, "it's not that. I have a plan to help him, but I'll need your help. Over."

 _I'm listening… over._

"I need you, and Dustin, and Will to meet me… somewhere, and I'll explain everything, over."

Lucas groaned and flopped back onto his bed. "Does it have to be soon, over?"

Nancy chuckled. "No, it doesn't. I'd quite like to stay in bed too. Later, after lunch, then?"

 _Yeah,_ came the reply. _I'll tell Will and Dustin. Where shall we meet?_

"I don't know, maybe Dustin or Will could think of somewhere?"

 _Yeah, I'll ask them, and I'll Supercomm you when I know, ok?_

"Ok."

 _Nancy, how did you get Mike to lend you his Supercomm?_

"I didn't. Stole it out of his room this morning. Lucky he's such a deep sleeper, huh?"

 _You've turned into such a freaking badass compared to a year ago, haven't you? See you later. Over and out._

The static blinked out.

Outside Nancy's door, Mike stood, listening. Not such a deep sleeper – he'd heard Nancy come in, and when he heard the static next door he'd gotten suspicious. And he'd heard everything.

 _How could you, Nancy?_ He thought angrily. _How could you?_

 **So that's my Chapter 2! Sorry, not much action in this one. But I love writing this for you guys already! Thank you again for the lovely reviews!**

 **-R x**


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